Now I know everyone has left posts before on who they'd recommend for the best party combinations, but I've been dwelling on it and I want to know who you'd think would be the best party to take from SoA onto ToB.

SoA Party (Sum of 4)-
Main PC- Female Drow Battle Monger
Imoen
Keldorn
Viconia

ToB Party (Completed)-
Main Pc- Female Drow Battle Monger
Imoen
Viconia
Keldorn
Sarevok
Joneleth Irenicus

I think this would be the best party all around, but I could be wrong. Anyone have any other suggestions?

[ 03-01-2003, 08:22 PM: Message edited by: Gangrell ]

I suggest creating spoiler tag in the title. If nothing, then for Sarevok.
Your ToB party is much like my own, except my protagonist is H/E Blade, and Tashia instead of Jon.
BTW, how do you get Jon? Ascension? TDD?

You'd better have a happy-group script somewhere [img]smile.gif[/img]

And dont forget -if you're good or neutral aligned- that other joinable NPC Ascension provides. I wouldnt leave him behind. The more people that are unaffected by Timestop *and* are on your side,.. the better I'd say ;)

Repleace Imoen with Edwin and you shall have a strong party indeed.

You get jon .. in the utter, utter end .. if you have Redemption installed.
Dont expect to just have him join the party though,.. it's tough to get him, it's tough to keep him.

EDIT:
And oh yes .. some pretty big spoiler tags might be in place [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 03-01-2003, 06:03 PM: Message edited by: daan ]

Unless you plan to convert both Viconia and Sarevok. I don't know about Jon.

Jon hates everyone, no problems there [img]smile.gif[/img]

Though I doubt you can convince Keldorn of the fact that you plan to change Viconia's view on life. I did it myself, but it is quite rare for those two not to fight ...

TIP: Once you're in ToB, no party-members will ever fight eachother or leave the group anymore. You can have edwin in your party, with a 20 rep. and have him hand out candy to little kids. It doesnt matter. He'll complain a lot, but he'll never leave the group. Once you reach ToB, you're safe :D

I figured with this party, I'd have a good balance of everything. Sarevok, myself and Keldorn being the best tanks, Viconia being my best cleric (yes, that's right Dundee, I said best) so she is able to heal my party, and hmm Edwin and Irenicus being my absolute best spell casters and blowing away the foes with some good magic :D

Sounds like a good deal.

Oh yea, does Irenicus actually wear any armor or well, anything for that matter?

A tad too weak melee-wise for my own preference. Only three people with proper fighting skills. ;) A pure cleric, like Viconia, is IMHO a waste of a slot since the clerical spellbook alone isn't powerful or flexible enough to warrant a place in a full-size party. I always use clerics who are competent in another field as well, such as a Ranger/Cleric, or Aerie.

Not too sure about Keldorn either to be honest. Normally one would want him for his Dispel Magics and True Sights, but with two pureclassed mages and a pure cleric in your party, I think you should do fine even without his special abilities. It may be so that Keldorn is a great fighter even without his Inquisitor bonuses, but there are better ones. Minsc and Mazzy (especially her) are two examples, IMHO Mazzy is the best Fighter NPC in the game, she's not forced to use either Shortbows or Short swords just because that's what she's proficient in. You could easily work your way up to Grand Master in another weapon long before ToB, I gave her a Throwing Spear myself. [img]smile.gif[/img]

If it was up to me, I'd ditch Keldorn and Viconia and have Aerie and Minsc or Mazzy take their places.

[ 03-01-2003, 09:29 PM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

Am I missing something? How can you get a drow PC in SOA?

[ 03-01-2003, 11:27 PM: Message edited by: 605 ]

Actually, you can do this in SOA too. Beyond the NPC's that fight you can have anyone in your group with a high reputation. The key is not allowing your reputation to rise. The character will only leave when your reputation rises to a number that they do not like.

[ 03-02-2003, 02:10 AM: Message edited by: Gopher Bait ]

Wait a second there good buddy, how are you going to enphasize that my party hasn't got good melee power? You just haven't used Keldorn to his fullest extent like I haven, but don't take True Sight for granted, it comes handy in sticky situations against wizards. But honestly, I don't know why you'd use Aerie melee wise, because you'd have to use a lot of really good equipment to make her a half way decent tank. To make a good tank, you need some good decent hp, which she doesn't have in quantity. But I will agree with you on Mazzy and Minsc, though I still go along with my personal favorite tanks :D

Ps- Screw it! I give up on trying to defend Viconia! Burn the elf! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 03-02-2003, 02:36 AM: Message edited by: Gangrell ]

I think he was joking about the melee-thing ;)

And as for Jon's armor .. he has an amulet of stoneskin on. Nifty little thing.
But hey .. he's Jon Irenicus .. he doesnt *need* armor, 'cause no enemy is evr gonna hit him when you combine his spells with your intellect ;)

welcome to IW!!!

I wasn't in fact ;)

Like I said, you only have three really capable fighters. So it's not really weak, but definitely less than I would've been comfortable with, had it been my own party.

Aerie wasn't going to fight, but as a priest she does just as well as Viconia but has the added advantage of being a decent mage as well. I was going to say that you should ditch Imoen as well and replace her with another fighter, since with Aerie you would already have two mages in your party, which IMHO is perfectly enough unless you have a thing for spellcasters.

So, update: Ditch Imoen, Keldorn and Viconia, replace with Aerie, Mazzy and Minsc (or maybe Korgan?)

[ 03-02-2003, 07:03 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

[img]tongue.gif[/img] Different play-styles I guess then .. I thought 2 fighters was a little over the top. Most of my parties have to contend with 1 ..2 on a rare occasion.

Same, I'll usually get 3 tanks and 3 spellcasters to even all things out.

Yeah I definitely prefer fighter-orientated parties over well-balanced or caster-orientated ones. I had five capable fighters in my previous party that I took all the way through SoA to ToB Ascension on Insane and beating the Eclipse party (Sola mod) as well, though two of them were multi-purpose fighters. So even with five fighters I also managed to jam in two mages, an Inquisitor, two clerics and one druid [img]smile.gif[/img]
For my new party I will *only* have four proper fighters, but I guess it shall have to be enough ;)

Lol :D
I cant stand magic anymore to be honest .. used it in too many ways, too many forms and on too many occasions.

My new party is a nice distraction form all the magic,.. been having quite some fun with it [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Me - Shapeshifter druid ( Rebalanced mod makes him godlike )
Kensai - to be a cleric later on
Assasin - staying what he is

Im going to dual the kensai very late -lvl 23-, to get to lvl 26 as a cleric (holy symbol). My motivation is the Xtra physical resistance (AoF) and permanent Kai-ability (Rigtheous magic) as well as quite a few level 7 spells.

I wanna explore the fighter and clerical abilities a bit more and ban all mages from my sight, so this is just the party to do it. Also, it will level up quite fast.

Daan, for a complete Magic Weaning Program, play a party of six Kensais. :D It's quite fun, really. Choose the smaller races (for the +5 save vs. spells). Be sure to have someone with Axes and someone with Daggers, for ranged support.

Nah, you only get sick of magic after you get bombarded with it so many times through out the game, especially with Irenicus in the end of SoA (and ToB if you have the Ascension mod). But how could you ever get tired of the pretty fireworks?

Go through the game endless times with mage-heavy parties every single time.. if not solo mages/sorcerers. I dont even notice the fireworks anymore, my eyes have become blind to the colours [img]tongue.gif[/img]

EDIT:
:D No way ! I'm not quitting on my Shapeshifter !
He's going to absorb damage, while the kensai does his thing [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Hmmm, I wonder who's gonna win the fight over the DoE + 2 :(

[ 03-02-2003, 08:25 AM: Message edited by: daan ]

Shapeshifters and Kensai's? Blah! You guys need some bigger and badder guys to fight all the vilians in this game! Come over to the other side with some fireworks, come over to the side of Mages and Monks :D

I hate fireworks myself, it causes slowdown and it makes me lose control and overlook of the battle, confusing me and eventually causing me to die because I lost control. I never use much firework even when I DO have 2-3 mages, they're almost always only there for prebuffing and spell protection removal.

I hate Dragons and battles in which the enemy summons twenty demons as well for the same reasons.

Monks !?
Ha !
No monk can match a ranger/cleric .. he is the ultimate fighter.
Think damage enhancing spells, 100+ % damage reduction to anything physical, ironskins ..
What's your monk gonna do when every hit he delivers heals me ?
( for those who have ToB .. this is great fun to try out on a certain
-improved- baddy, no matter what he tries .. you're healed ;) )

Watch out from rage_mode Fighter/Mages and camembert_using Fighter/Thieves. ;)

[ 03-02-2003, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Alson ]

I believe it's called Quivering Palm...*echoes*
Any monk can whoop on the "ultimate" (AHEM) fighter, the ranger/cleric with his speed and strength hands down :D

[ 03-02-2003, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: Gangrell ]

Wait!
*puts on army helmet and prepares to get bombarded*
Okay, ready :D

I believe the counter for that is called Death Ward [img]smile.gif[/img] Never saw the greatness of Quivering Palm. You get one shot once per day to kill something if you hit him, if he fails his saving throw, <font color=red>and with no penalty to the saving throw at all!</font>. So what if you can kill a Dragon with it? The same can be done with Chromatic Orb! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I have to agree that very little can match the power of a Ranger/Cleric, he's been my choice for PC in both of my most recent parties. Fighter/Mages *may* be more powerful, but it's close in my book.

[ 03-02-2003, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Rataxes ]

This may have gone way over my head, but what did daan mean about everytime the ranger got hit he was healed?

Daan is referring to the fact that Ranger/Clerics can have more than 100% physical immunity -- thus actually healing from physical damage. ;)

And thanks to a certain ToB helmet .. the above 100-resistance is easiest obtained for Blunt damage.
Would you happen to know anyone that deals blunt damage ?
Hmmmmm, lemme think .. hmmmm

[img]graemlins/firedevil.gif[/img]

Daan is pure evil [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img]

Hey !

Check my TOB post about power party !

(Best party)

Welcome to Ironworks Leslie [img]graemlins/cheers.gif[/img]